


I don't know where you're going (but do you got room for one more troubled soul?)

by LaVoileBlanche



Series: Outside the world seems a violent place [5]
Category: Class (TV 2016)
Genre: Canon Gay Relationship, Established Relationship, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, POV Matteusz, Post-Episode s01e06: Detained
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-21
Updated: 2016-11-21
Packaged: 2018-09-01 07:56:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8615896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaVoileBlanche/pseuds/LaVoileBlanche
Summary: He sees, in his mind’s eye, the way Charlie had scrambled for a hand to hold, for something to keep him anchored, and the way his eyes had found Matteusz like they were seeking the same.
(What happened in the aftermath.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Fall Out Boy's "Alone Together".

Charlie heads straight for the bathroom when they eventually get home. Quill is away doing Quill things – without the Ahn there’s nothing to guarantee she’ll come back, but that isn't Matteusz’s priority at the moment. He takes his time hanging up his coat and putting his shoes away, and then he follows Charlie.

The bathroom door is slightly ajar, which is either a sign that Matteusz is welcome, or just Charlie being unwilling to trap himself in another small space. Matteusz hopes it’s the former, and pushes the door open softly. Charlie is standing over the sink and staring at his reflection, his knuckles white with the grip he has on the porcelain. He doesn't even glance at Matteusz as he enters the room, but starts the tap running with his fingers slightly shaken, holds a flannel under the flow and then up to his face.

“Hey,” Matteusz says. He steps forward and takes the flannel gently from Charlie’s hand, and Charlie doesn't resist. “I will help.”

Charlie turns towards him, and his expression is so lost that Matteusz can feel the crack and splinter of his heart, just looking at him. He cups the side of Charlie’s face and rubs his thumb lightly over his cheekbone. Charlie leans into the touch, his eyes closing. With the flannel in his other hand, Matteusz starts to wipe away at the last remains of the blood on Charlie’s face, wishing he could clean everything else that had happened today away as easily. Charlie sighs, opens his eyes.

“You don't have to do this, Matteusz,” he says quietly.

Matteusz wants to say,  _ you saved us all today. I nearly lost you. You don’t have to carry your planet with you all the time. I love you so much it hurts.  _ Instead, all he says is, “I know. I want to.”

“I killed someone,” Charlie says. His mouth twists into a miserable smile. “You should be more afraid of me than ever.”

“Shhh,” Matteusz hushes him, leans in and presses a soft kiss to his forehead. “No more of this. I love you, Charlie. Even when you scare me, it doesn't matter, because I love you.”

“It  _ does  _ matter.” Charlie’s gaze is heartbreaking. “I don't want to lose you.”

“You won’t.” He means it. There is nothing that could drive him from this boy, frightening and foreign and oh, so lovely. “I am not going anywhere.”

Charlie just gazes helplessly at him, his expression wrecked. Matteusz wipes the last trace of blood from beneath his nose, drops the flannel into the sink and leans in, catches him in a kiss that is soft and candy-sweet.

“Come,” he says, “it is late, and I am thinking being thrown outside of space and time is very tiring.”

Charlie lets himself be led by hand to the bedroom, and Matteusz helps undress him, kissing along his neck and shoulders when his shirt is pulled off.

“You were brave today,” he murmurs. He puts his hands on Charlie's waist and pulls him in close. “Very heroic.”

“Because of you,” Charlie says, quiet, like it's a secret he hasn't quite decided he wants Matteusz to hear. “And the others, of course, but mostly you. I couldn't bear it if something happened to you, Matteusz.”

Matteusz pulls away to look at him, and his expression is desperately sincere. Matteusz thinks back to detention, and how he had confessed that Matteusz is the only thing that keeps him sane some days. He thinks about the Cabinet, and how frightening that kind of power is, no matter whose hands it's in. He thinks about it being in Charlie's hands, and all the different ways that terrifies him – that Charlie could do something monstrous, that something monstrous could be done to Charlie, that he will become unrecognisable, that Matteusz will no longer love him, or worse, that he will. He cradles Charlie’s face in both of his palms, his touch like the trembling wing of a butterfly, and studies him. He thinks, mostly, about how the fear _of_ Charlie felt minuscule, insignificant, pathetic, when it was placed next to the fear _for_ him. He thinks mostly about the red tendril of light that burst from the prison and twisted vine-like around Charlie’s leg, and how it had felt like more than terror – how it had felt like the universe was holding his very heart in its hand, ready to crush – when he thought they would not pull him back. He sees, in his mind’s eye, the way Charlie had scrambled for a hand to hold, for something to keep him anchored, and the way his eyes had found Matteusz like they were seeking the same.

“Charlie,” he says. There’s a soft break in his voice, the proof of his heart. He doesn't know what else to say, but Charlie must understand, because he bites his lip, and nods, and leans forward for a kiss that tastes as pure and vital as clean air. God, Matteusz loves him. 

They go to bed wrapped in each other, so close that Matteusz imagines peeling back his skin and finding Charlie underneath. He doesn't mind. His boy is dangerous and vengeful and lost, but he is his before he is any of that, the sweet and lonely prince of Matteusz’s heart. They will protect each other – of all the things he has heard today, this is the one he believes the most. They can figure out the rest later.

**Author's Note:**

> Episode 6 was the best episode of the series so far. Nothing in this life will ever satisfy me the way that episode did. There was so much quality Charlie content, I'm still yelling.
> 
> As always, come talk to me at queer-z0mbies.tumblr.com, I am absolutely desperate to scream about this show to anyone who'll listen. Thanks for reading!


End file.
